Empty Gold
by CleverPhoenix
Summary: Roy and Al haven’t seen Ed for six months since the incident. Now they can’t wait any longer. But what if they don’t find what they’re looking for? Based on BBI. Songfic to Your Star By Evanescence. Could be viewed as slight Parental Roy. One-shot.


**Empty Gold**

Summary: Roy and Al haven't seen Ed for six months since the incident. Now they can't wait any longer. But what if they don't find what they're looking for? Based on BBI. Songfic to Your Star By Evanescence. Could be viewed as slight Parental Roy. One-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or Ed would've become the new Pride at the end of the series.

Author's Notes: I'M ALIVE!!!! Yeah it's been ages since the last update and I'm really sorry. Thing is, I'm suffering from a writer's block the size of Everest so give me a break and besides, my GCSE exams are coming up. Okay enough excuses and onto thoughts with this fic. I'm addicted to Pride!Ed stories at the moment so it wasn't long before I wrote one myself. It obviously follows the Pride ending route, but I'm changing it so it ends up with Roy and Al alive (obviously). Spoilers if you don't know a thing about the game. I only know a little myself, seeing as I'm trying to track down an english subbed version for download. But at least I tried. Now on to the fic!

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_Song lyrics or stressed text_

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**Empty Gold**

It had all started six months ago, after the incident. They had thought they had died that night, protecting Ed from the homunculus as they attacked him. Al even remembered the feeling of Envy's fist being driven through his skin. But then they had woken up, completely unharmed on the floor of the room. Ed was missing. And had been ever since. It was as if Edward Elric had disappeared from the face of the Earth.

_I can't see your star_

_I can't see your star _

_Though I patiently waited, bedside,_

_For the death of today_

Mustang and Al had finally had enough. They wanted to see Edward again; they knew he had to be alive, somewhere. So they decided to search. But wherever they went, it seemed they had missed him for flying rumours of golden hair and eyes drifted among the masses of town's people they passed. Could it be he was running from them? Or were they just too late?

_I can't see your star_

_The mechanical lights of Lisbon_

_Frightened it away_

Al was a wreck, Mustang barely fairing any better. How could they be so close yet it always seemed to escape their grasp? Al still considered this his fault, no matter what Mustang had tried to say otherwise. He shouldn't have left his brother when he needed him! Now he felt so alone. Just like Ed must have felt...

_And I'm alone now_

_Me and all I stood for_

They still wandered on, searching desperately for the blond alchemist. Both had been gone for three weeks now, drawing curious rumours in their absence, but neither cared. They weren't going back until they found Ed again. No matter what.

_We're wandering now_

_All in parts in pieces, swim lonely_

_Find your own way out_

Finally they had made it to Resembool after a month of fruitless searching. After much questioning around the small town, they discovered there had been no sightings of him, much to their disappointment. As they trudged down the small road, Al looked up from the ground and saw something he had never truly wanted to see again in his life: the graveyard where his mother and brother's gravestones stood.  
He had never wanted the funeral, considering they hadn't been able to find the body, but Hawkeye had insisted on it; however everyone could see her inner turmoil even within her normal calm mask. Roy and Al had grudgingly agreed. There was now a gravestone standing in the name of him, right next to his mother's.

_I can't see your star_

_I can't see your star_

_How can the darkness feel so wrong?_

Chancing a glance, Mustang saw the mixture of sadness and longing upon the face of Alphonse as he stared up on the rows of white marble. He wanted to visit. Mustang could even sense the need building up within him as well, just daring him to see the grave then prove everyone wrong.

_And I'm alone now_

_Me and all I stood for_

Al looked at him, noticing his gaze at last.

"Can we visit?" He whispered, as if to maintain the silence settling into the small community. There wasn't a soul about...

"Yes. Let's go." Mustang muttered back and they wandered up the hill, unaware of being watched by hazy golden eyes.

_We're wondering now_

_All in parts in pieces, swim lonely_

They finally reached the top of the hill, staring sadly at the small stone that continued to oppose their belief. Edward couldn't be dead. But they could still pay their respects. Al had broken down crying and sobbing in his knees.  
"Brother! I'm-m so sorry! Please just come back wherever you are! You can't be dead!" He yelled with a note of hysteria present within his voice. Mustang himself was barely restraining the flow of tears himself as he gazed closely at the stone and its message.

_Edward Elric_

_1898-1913_

_A true friend and brother_

_Nothing will ever truly separate us_

Al himself had chosen the message. He felt it truly suited him. They were brought of their thoughts as they heard soft footsteps approaching, as if hesitant.  
"He...won't come...back." A familiar voice whispered. Both of them snapped their heads around to look at the intruder and felt their eyes widen with shock and their mouths drop open.

_Find your own way out_

It was Ed. Well, it looked _just_ like him, yet different; a reflection with obvious mistakes. But who else could it be? It was the same golden hair, only it was no longer in a braid and seemed longer. He was dressed in black wearing, much to Roy and Al's horror, the same outfit as Envy, but with a long fingerless glove present on his left arm and a small normal fingerless glove to his forearm on the other. Red tattoos mauled his slightly paler skin in streaks and scratches across his body. One of these seemed to stretch down his left glove. But what truly shocked them were his eyes. They were golden still, but blank and hazy, containing nothing. No emotion, no life. They were empty.

_So far away_

"Brother?" Al whispered, daring to hope that their search had finally come to an end, that his beloved brother was truly alive after all. Mustang looked at 'Ed' cautiously. That may look like Fullmetal, but there was no spark in his eyes, no life in his gaze. Ed's had always been filled with emotion (no matter how hard he tried to hide it, much to the forever amusement of Mustang) and a unbreakable passion for life. The blond shook his head slowly.  
"I'm not... your brother." He said quietly and hesitantly. "Was he... Edward Elric?" Mustang started slightly. He definitely know the blond somehow, you couldn't just guess that sort of thing. But how? It was then that the stranger moved slightly, turning his body away from them. The blood-red tattoos shone in the light but what had Mustang fixated was the mark on his left shoulder. It was of a dragon eating its own tail: an ouroboros. The mark of a homunculus...  
_Its growing colder without your love_

_Why can't you feel me calling your name?_

"Who are you?" Mustang barked, now fully on guard around this sin. He hadn't seen one with such light hair before, or such strange eyes...  
"My name...is...Pride." Al felt his worry continue to bubble, almost boiling over in anxiety. Why did he look so much like Ed? _Unless..._

"Who were you made from? Why are you here?" He managed to choke out. Pride turned to regard him emotionlessly for a moment before answering in a monotone.  
"I...was made...from...Edward Elric." He said quietly, barely audible above the breeze blowing through the graveyard. At this, Al completely broke down, sobbing uncontrollably on his knees. Mustang immediately knelt down and put his arm around the boy, in what he hoped to be silent comfort. On the inside though, he felt like doing the same. Though he and Ed had never truly admitted openly to being friends, they had been quite close. At least now they knew why they hadn't been able to find anything.

_Can't break the silence_

_Its breaking me_

_All my fears turn to rage_

"Why are you here?" Mustang manages to growl out. Pride turns to us and for a brief second, there is a glint in his eye. One that was commonly found previously in the eyes of the Fullmetal Alchemist, the eyes of Edward. But like a flash it was gone, making the two wonder if it had been an illusion or not. The eyes were empty once again.

"He...wouldn't have...wanted you to...waste your life. You have...it for...a reason...he made...sure of it. Don't...just grieve...forever. You have...to...live...and be...free" He managed to whisper. They looked at him in shock. For some reason, it just didn't sound like the sort of thing that Pride himself would say. But either way, they realized he was right. Ed had given them this life for a reason. They couldn't just waste it moping. As they tried to look back up at him to question him though, Pride was gone. Silence fell once again.

_And I'm alone now_

_Me and all I stood for_

They stood slowly, and then began to head towards the train station. Ed had been found, just not how they wanted. But there was nothing they could do except go on. They would have to, to make sure they moved on.

_We're wandering now_

_All in parts and pieces, swim lonely_

As they boarded the train back to Central however, they never noticed a pair of golden eyes watching them silently before disappearing into the shadows.

_Find your own way out_

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FINALLY!!! That took ages to write! So I'm sorry if I completely messed up the game for you or whatever but I really just wanted to write this. PLEASE REVIEW!!!


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